Pro baseball players face decades in prison over alleged gambling misconduct

Cleveland

On November 13, Cleveland Guardians closing pitcher Emmanuel Clase pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers win bets on his pitches. Guardians starting pitcher Luis Ortiz entered a not guilty plea to the same charges the day before. The two professional athletes, both from the Dominican Republic, were released after posting bond.

Clase and Ortiz are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 65 years. 

ESPN reported, “According to prosecutors, the two accepted thousands of dollars in bribes to help two unnamed gamblers in their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on bets placed on the speed and outcome of their pitches.” (Nov. 13)

The charges involve games that Clase had pitched since 2023 and just two games that Ortiz pitched in June. Reportedly they gave advance information to professional bettors in the Dominican Republic. Prosecutors allege the bettors made over $400,000 while the pitchers made less than $10,000 each.

Both pitchers had been on nondisciplinary paid leave from playing since July, when Major League Baseball began investigating allegedly higher than average betting activity when the two were pitching. Their attorneys have maintained their innocence.

Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, has tried to appeal to the sports-loving public. He stated: “Integrity, honesty and fair play are part of the DNA of professional sports. When corruption infiltrates the sport, it brings disgrace not only to the participants but damages the public trust in an institution that is vital and dear to all of us.” (justice.gov, Nov. 9) 

This is all garbage intended to justify the outlandishly heavy charges against Clase and Ortiz. 

Part of a racist pattern

In October, 30 people were arrested on charges of leaking information to bettors about National Basketball Association games and rigging poker games. Those individuals included Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier. Like Clase and Ortiz, they were charged by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. That same court has now brought more charges alleging additional gambling misconduct in the NBA.

Billups and Rozier are African American in a league where about 70% of the players are Black. Clase and Ortiz are Black Dominicans; 30% of MLB players are Latine and 10% are Dominican. So far, Black and Brown professional athletes are disproportionately being targeted in these gambling investigations.

The charges around extralegal sports gambling involved small amounts of money when contrasted with the multibillion dollar legal sports “gaming” industry that has exploded since 2018, when the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. This ruling made sports gambling legal. Now ads from companies such as Draft Kings and Fanduel are repeatedly broadcast to sports fans on television.

Harvard Law School student Zachari J. Curtis explained: “By all estimates, we are in the early stages of a sports gambling addiction epidemic. If allowed to flourish, this tech-fueled phenomenon will visit economic ruin, family violence and death on a lot of people and their communities.” He further elaborated on the particular threat the sports gambling — euphemistically referred to in ads as “gaming” — poses to Black families. 

Curtis quotes from attorney, filmmaker and reparations activist Antonio Moore: “I think for so many of us, because of the aspiration, because of the lack of wealth, because of the idea that ‘I’m an expert,’ this presents a perfect environment to take middle class families, particularly middle class aspiring African American families and take what little wealth they have.” (theflaw.org, Oct. 6)

Since the 2018 SCOTUS ruling, states have rushed to legalize sports gambling under the false premise that tax revenues will be a bonanza for state budgets. This was the same argument casino owners made years earlier to cities and states across the country. 

Now, millions of people with gambling addictions have squandered income and savings in the hope of “making it big” while the real criminals — not nationally oppressed athletes, but the capitalist ruling class, which includes the predatory gambling industry — go free.